Home Sweet home...

So I am home! I traveled all day Saturday and got into San Fran late Saturday night. Steve and the kids came to pick me up from the airport and it was wonderful to see my kids and hubby! I missed them terribly. I talked to them on the phone at least THREE times a day while I was gone! Just a little homesick...ha ha! When I walked in the door, my house was spotless and clean. I mean dishes done, carpet swept, laundry done, and....Steve even put clean jammies out on the bed for me with some clean towels so I could shower before bed!! Isn't he the sweetest husband? He did great with the kids and didn't have a problem while I was gone. He sure made this trip a lot easier for me by doing such a great job.
As soon as I landed in San Fran, it was non-stop from there. Went to bed Saturday night, got up at 600 AM Sunday morning to get to Church by 715, so I could prepare for Sunday's lesson. It has just been busy ever since. Today I did nothing but school work all day to be prepared for this week at school. I just got home from class tonight where I had to do a teacher demonstration for "Collage." It went great. I left class a little early cause my husband had his championship softball game with the Church tonight. I am anxiously awaiting is arrival to see if they won or not. He is really competitive and wants to win it badly! I am soooooo glad the softball season is over. Monday nights are just so busy for him and I am in class, so it will be less chaotic on Monday's now!
I have a busy week ahead of me. Only three more weeks of speech and I am done....YEA!!! I have a speech every class until it is over though....boooo!!!! I probably won't be posting much the next couple of weeks. Friday and Saturday I will be baking all day and then spending Saturday evening at the church setting up my "Fall" table for my bake sale on Sunday. I have some YUMMY recipes to make and can't wait to sell them! I will take lots of pictures. I found some great recipes in my "Southern Living" cookbook! If you haven't ever bought one... GO DO IT! They are awesome!
Here are TONS of pictures. They are a little out of order, so I apologize. It was such a fun time with my mom and sister! My mom's party was great. Greg had it catered and even a bartender there to do all the work. Everyone wore black veils (like we were at a funeral) and most everyone wore all black! They even decorated a port-a-potty for my mom and a walker! It was very comical. They had black flowers on her cake. If you have ever dealt with black icing before, you know that it stains. Quite a few people were walking around with black lips, black teeth, and black tongues. It was a riot!I met alot of my mom's great friends and even got to see some old friends from when I was a pre-teen! They couldn't believe how grown up I was....ha ha! I can't wait to go back to Savannah for Thanksgiving with my family! We are going to have a great time taking Golf cart rides, swimming, and eating some goooood food!!! Yummy!
Me and my sister, Elissa.
Here is the house I grew up in for a few years. My mom still owns this house, but currently rents it out. It is a beautiful house, but nothing compared to alot of the houses out on The Landings! It actually is bigger than it looks. This house was built in phase 1 of the Landings. The pics of the other houses I have on here are from Phase 2 and 3. My bedroom was the window to the left of the door. This brings back alot of memories of my childhood here.....the not so great years....Middle School, what I am experiencing with Chelsea....ha ha!

I just love the houses at the Landings! They are so beautiful. I took tons of pictures of the houses out there, but only put a few on here. This frist picture took three pictures to get the whole house in the picture. It has a guest sweet unattached at each end of the house! Maybe someday I can afford something like this....ha ha!

Yes, they have alligators on the island too. They live in the lagoons all around The Landings. When we first moved here I remember my mom and step-dad sitting us down and giving us instructions on what to do if we ever got chased by an alligator. They were told that sometimes the gators are attracted to dogs and we walked our cocker Spaniel, Charlie, alot! I was so scared the first few months we lived there!!
Aunt Brandy and Ava playing together. It was really great to finally meet my niece Ava. She is so adorable and cute and has the biggest, chubbies little cheeks ever. She looks alot like my nephew, Dillon!

The Spread.....oh boy was it good food too!! I love the food in the South!! I sure do miss Savannah alot!

I really love this picture of me, my mom, and my sister Elissa. We had a great time together.

I love this picture of my mom. This sucker says what she feels "Fifty Sucks." If you ask me, my mom doesn't look anywhere near fifty!

Here are some pictures of the house where my mom's party was held. Isn't it beautiful? The lady that owns the house actually played the piano for us and did a great job.

Surprise!!!!!

So I am sure you all are wondering why I asked for prayer. Well, about a week and a half ago my mom's boyfriend called and wanted to know if I could fly out here to Savannah to surprise my mom for her 50th birthday! I had to do a little scrambling, but I made it work.....and I am here!! It is awesome to be back here and to see my mom. It's been over two years since I saw here last, so this was a nice surprise for her.
My sister and I came to the Club where they were getting ready to have lunch and we walked up on them and surprised her. My mom's look on her face was PRICELESS!! She was in a state of shock for about two minutes, it was hysterical!
I will be here until Saturday afternoon and then I fly back home. The reason why I needed prayer was because I HATE to fly and also I was worried and upset about leaving my kids. They are doing great and the flights were great. I got alot of school work done on the two flights here.
Thanks for all the prayers and I will be updating with more pictures the next few days. Tomorrow is my mom's b-day party and I can't wait. It is really nice here and I truly LOVE the southern hospitality.

Me, My mom, and my sister Elissa. My mom meeting Ava for the first time....

My mom's dog Molson. Isn't he a cutie?

The living room.

My mom's house. It is a true "southern" house! I love it!

Please Pray for me!!

Please pray for me on Wed. I can not go into details about anything right now and don't worry it's not medical or school reasons. I tell you more later this week. I just ask for your prayers please!
Thanks
I will post new pics later this week!

Progress..

So tomorrow Steve comes home from his week away at training. It's funny the things you sit and think about when you have too much time alone! I was sitting here tonight thinking about how far I have come since Steve and I first got married. When we lived in England and he got deployed to Saudi Arabia, I slept four months on the couch (pregnant with Tyler) downstairs with Chelsea on the floor with the TV on! I was such a chicken and didn't want to sleep upstairs and felt safer downstairs on the couch. I know it sounds silly for a grown woman to be such a chicken, but I really really am! I let fear over-take me easily. Too many scary movies when I was a kid I guess.
So then when Steve first left for Iraq last year, I did very well and slept in my own bed but with the tv on. By the end of the deployment (six months) I had the tv off and was sleeping in the dark....all by myself!! Yeah for me! It's amazing what growing up can do. I believe that alot of this has to do with my faith and how it has grown too. I now know to trust the Lord to take care of me and my family and to protect us and keep us safe from harm. When I was first married, I was still new in my faith and didn't really know what it meant to trust the Lord with all of my fears and problems...to pray for things and know that everything would be alright.
Today I am proud of how far I have come since I first accepted Jesus in my heart (ten years ago next month). I have come along way, maybe not always made the best choices all the time, maybe not always been on the right path, but I always know that I can pick myself up and know that my Father will be there to help me get back on my feet.
I am so thankful and grateful for my life today. I have three awesome children, a loving and caring husband, and great family and friends. Growing up, I never thought this is how my life would turn out.....this is way better than I would have ever imagined.
Here are a few pics of my sweet girl. She had a much better morning. Today Jaelyn and I had a great day at the park, then we went for ice cream, and then spent time at my friend's house so Jaelyn could jump on her trampoline for a while. It was a great day today.
Jaelyn and her "corky" smile. She had a great morning compared to the other day! Thank goodness!

Isn't she the cutest thing? I got this one good smile out of her on this morning....check out next pic....

My silly girl's smile. She is going through that stage when they do that silly smile. It's hard to get her to smile normal now.

Can you feel that?

There is a cool breeze blowing and the temperature has dropped enough to wear a jacket...could it be...Fall? I sure hope so! I LOVE Fall and I love wearing jackets, sweaters, jeans, and boots...maybe not all at once, but you know what I mean! I love the leaves changing colors and covering the ground with all their different colors. I love seeing Fall decorations on everyones porches or lawn! I LOVE FALL! I highly doubt it is here yet for us, it is still early and I am sure there will be a few more days of 100 degrees or higher for us, but today felt like a true Fall day and it just made me so excited. I can't wait to start baking Pumpkin Pie, my favorite and burning all of my Fall candles soon. Speaking of baking, I have decided to hold a Bake Sale to raise money for our Children's Church. We need money to buy our curriculum and what a better way to do it. I just really hope that it works out and we raise LOTS of money. If anyone wants to give me a great recipe that you know will go over well...PLEASE share!
So you might find it funny that my son is in his PJ's in the following pictures. Don't worry, I have not lost my mind since Steve's been gone! Today was Tyler's PJ party at school. His class has done really well and got many compliments on their good behavior, when they do this they get a part of a train. When the train is complete they get a PJ party. There are ten parts to the train in all and they have already managed to get them all since school started! Way to go Tyler's class! Tyler has grown so quickly that he doesn't really have any matching pj's anymore that fit him, so mommy and Jaelyn went out yesterday to buy Tyler some PJ's as a surprise. He was so happy and excited, you would have thought it was Christmas! He is so easy to please and so easy going and I just love that about him! This morning was so easy to get him out of bed because he was so excited about his day. He was walking down the hallway and said "Mommy, I just love growing up, it is so much fun." My heart melted, but it made me sad all at the same time! I don't want my son to grow up!
So things have been going well while Steve is gone. Jaelyn doesn't understand where Daddy is and Tyler has had a little bit of a hard time too. I am sure it is because the last time he left it was for six months. They will be happy to see him on Saturday.
School is good. Speech is going well, I got an "A" on my MAJOR speech on Tuesday. I was pretty excited. The rest of my classes are going well too and I am enjoying all of them!
Here are some pictures. Don't mind Jaelyn, she had just woke up!

This look tells me that today is going to be a "not so good day!" Jaelyn had a rough night last night and woke up really grouchy! Good thing she didn't have school this morning cause it would have been a tough one!


Isn't my little man so handsome? He is getting so tall and looking so grown up.I just love his smile and personality! He is such a love-bug and I wouldn't want it any other way...

Taking a Break...

that is what I am doing. Steve left Friday in the middle of the night. It had been a busy day on Friday. I had Jaelyn's twin friends over and then a friend of mine asked me to watch her kids on Friday. Her grandma was diagnosed with Cancer a month or so ago and she was getting worse, so I took the kids so she could go spend some quality time with her Grandma. The kids had a blast! And I loved having a houseful again! We played outside on the trampoline, played on the swings, and even got Bun-bun out to play with for a while. We also did some painting to pass the time until Chelsea and Tyler got home. It was a great and busy day. Steve spent most of the day running around getting ready for his trip, so I didn't see much of him that day. Steve made it to Florida safe and sound. He said it has rained there some and the bugs are horrible! Poor guy. He is sleeping in a tent and on a cot for a week. I am sure he will be happy to get home!!
Today has been a stressful day for me. Tomorrow is a BIG speech for me and I am stressing about it. The funny thing is, that I stress internally. So I now have an upset stomach and a canker sore too. If anyone has had canker sores....THEY HURT SO BADLY!! I usually get them when I stress. So I took a break from my practicing my speech to do some cleaning. I wonder how in the world my house gets so messy SOOOO quickly. I have got the kids involved in helping clean by giving them certain chores to do around the house, but it still seems to get out of control some days.
I have been working on my procrastination problem this semester. I am HORRIBLE at procrastinating and it does nothing but stress me out or makes me rush through things that I need to take my time on. So far I have been doing really good this semester with my school work. I have been getting things done on time and staying ahead of schedule. Now I just need to work on this in my housework!
Here are a few pictures of the past few days. It was a busy weekend. The little boy I watched on Friday woke up sick Saturday morning (they stayed the night) and I worried all weekend that my kids would get sick. So far so good! No one has had any problems.
Enjoy the pics. They are all out of order.
Left to right: Hannah, Elizabeth, Tess, and Jaelyn. Aren't they cute taking a little break from playing?
Jaelyn pushing Hannah on the swing. They love this swing even though it's for younger kids.

Elizabeth entertaining Bun-bun with a carrot.
Jaelyn working hard on her painting.
Tess concentrating on her painting too....
A couple of pics I took last week. It was picture day for Chelsea, so we curled her hair.

Where's the Fire?

That was the question of the day today....where is they fire? I sat down at my computer desk this morning to start on some school work and looked outside to see what I thought were clouds. I thought to myself, "rain, no way." So I walked out on my back patio, and I knew immediatly it wasn't rain, something was on fire. It was so thick and you could smell it burning, that I thought for sure it was right outside the back gate of the base. So, I loaded up Jaelyn and Chelsea (she goes to school late on Wed's) and we went on a hunt for the fire, but with no luck. So I just took some pictures of the smoke. It was like this all day today and put a horrible taste in your mouth. I came home and went online to find out that there is a huge fire up in Susanville and with the wind, it is blowing it down here in the Valley. I couldn't believe how bad the smoke was here since we are a good distance from Susanville. It seems like California is burning up right now. You can see how BROWN everything is in my pictures. It is sooooo dry here. I am praying for rain soon. It probably won't come until November, but I am praying for a VERY wet winter this year. We had such a mild winter last year that it didn't even make things really green like it usually does.
Well, I should be getting to bed. I have school in the morning (Speech) and I need my rest. On Tuesday she surprised us with our impromptu speeches we had to do. That is where she gives us a topic and we have five minutes to prepare information and then we have to give the Speech. It was kind of terrifying, but fun. I enjoyed my topics and actually got an A on both! Yeah! My big speech is on Tuesday and I am excited to get it over with. I am the 5th person to give my speech, so once I am done I get to sit back and watch everyone else....stress free!!! I am doing an informative speech on "The Good and Bad of Caffeine." It will be interesting.
I hope you enjoy the pics, more to come soon.
Goodnight!
I know you can't tell from these pictures very well, but the smoke was BAD today.

Chelsea with her best friend Hunter. (Don't mind Chelsea's outfit, she was going to bed) Hunter came over the night before they left to say goodbye and I am glad that Steve took a picture. (I was at school) Hunter lived in the house connected to us, but her and Chelsea were best friends before they moved in next door. Hunter and her family moved to Ohio...sniff sniff.

This our Pastor praying for our Children and their new school year. This was promotion Sunday a couple of Sunday's ago. Chelsea promoted to the Youth Group and Tyler promoted to the 1st Grade class!! YEAH!

Chelsea taking a picture of Tyle and Jaelyn at Church a couple of Sunday's ago. Aren't they so cute?

I'll just sit for five minutes....

is what I keep saying to myself in the midst of doing my homework! Needless to say, I get side-tracked doing dishes, straightening the house, or feeding animals.
Sorry but no pics today. I just thought I would jump on here real quick to post how things are going. Everyone is adjusting to school very well except Jaelyn. She is NOT liking leaving me at all. I knew it would be hard for her.....but not this hard. It makes it harder on me leaving her when she is not happy. I have been trying to prepare her the night before, but it isn't working very well. I am just going to have to stick with it. It makes it harder because she only goes two days a week, so she isn't on a schedule yet on what days she goes and what days she doesn't go. It is confusing for her. When Tyler started pre-school, I started him at five days a week because I knew he needed that consistency. It worked very well, but I also could afford it then. Now is a different story....ha ha. So hopefully Jaelyn will start adjusting soon. Today seemed to be a better day once she was there, even though she fought me the whole way there!
The other two are adjusting well too. Chelsea is trying out for the volleyball team, which I am thrilled about! I just hope that she makes the team. I have decided to put Tyler in basketball when it starts. I worry about Tyler playing sports due to his asthma, but I think he will be ok. I will just be sure to keep his inhaler with me.
School is good for me too. Lots of projects due in all my classes and my Speech class is going way better than I thought. I don't mind speaking in front of people, it's just that I worry about my content and presentation being right. It feels like this week I am getting into more of a routine and I don't feel as overwhelmed as the first two weeks. I thought for sure I had got in way over my head! Luckily I think it will all work out. Tomorrow I meet with a counselor to see what I have left to take next semester to graduate. I have my classes picked, I just want to double check. I have also been checking into what University I want to transfer to next Fall. Yes, next Fall I will be starting my BA and I think it will be in teaching. Just not sure of that yet. I DO know that I will probably only teach K-2 grade. Nothing is for sure yet though. I really enjoy Early Childhood, so who knows!
Steve is leaving on Saturday, poor guy has to go to Florida for training. Training that he has to go to before he deploys again in March or April. I am hoping that he doesn't get deployed because that means he misses me graduating!! My number one fan will miss my graduation and that will just break my heart, but that is how it goes in the military!
Well, that is our update. I wish I could say that we lead a more interesting life, but not at this moment! We went to Dillon's Beach last weekend and had the BEST TIME EVER!! I will share pictures soon!